Topic: A heart attack occurs when one or more of the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart, are blocked or the artery diameter is greatly narrowed in size. The result of the change in the coronary artery leads to little or no oxygen being carried to a specific part of the heart. Without enough oxygen, the part is damaged and dies causing a heart attack. In some instances, a heart attack can be deadly, but prompt treatment may result in restoring blood flow to the specific part of the heart that was damaged due to the blockage.

The diameter of an artery narrows when plaque collects along the inside wall. A piece of the plaque that breaks loose leaves a rough spot on the inner lining of the artery. As blood flows through the artery, small amounts get caught on the rough spot and stop moving. When blood is not moving it clots. The clot grows as more blood collects on it and a blockage begins to form. When the blockage is large enough to prevent the flow of blood through the artery or when the amount of plaque greatly narrows the artery so no or very little blood passes through it, a heart attack occurs. Medical terms for heart attack are acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and myocardial infarction (MI). (Source: CMS)

Measure: The number of deaths that occurred during the hospital admission in which the bypass surgery was performed compared to the expected number of deaths. Information on whether the patient died during the hospital stay was provided by hospitals. (phc4.org)

CABG MortalityQ3 2011 - Q4 2012 Results *

*The Hospitals quality measures reported on this website come from a variety of sources using several data collection processes and update schedules. While the PHCQA website contains the most recent publicly available information, the time periods represented by these data range from 6 to 24 months old. Caution should be used when drawing conclusions from these data as a Hospitals’s performance may have changed significantly since the data was collected and reported. The PHCQA recommends you contact the hospital directly to obtain the most recent performance data.